A sheet conveying device of the type including a supplying unit for supplying a plurality of sheets in a side-by-side arrangement with respect to the sheet supplying direction, and a conveying unit for conveying the plurality of sheets being supplied from the supplying unit in a direction perpendicular to the sheet supplying direction to a desired working unit is known to the public. For example, in a mail enclosing and sealing device of a mail processing apparatus, a first perpendicular conveying unit is disposed on the sheet delivery side of a cutter unit acting as a delivery unit, and on the delivery side of the first perpendicular conveying unit there is provided a working unit such as an enclosing unit through a second perpendicular conveying unit.
A continuous document paper is cut suitably by a cutter unit to make two or more single document sheets, and a respective single sheet is delivered toward the first perpendicular conveying unit with the respective single sheet being arranged side by side in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. The respective single sheet being received by the first conveying unit is delivered toward the second conveying unit and in the direction perpendicular to the prior conveying direction and, at that time, the sheet located closest to the second conveying unit is firstly conveyed onto the second conveying unit and, thereafter, the sheet located second closest to the second conveying unit is conveyed onto the second conveying unit.
In such a prior art sheet conveying device, it is impossible to change the order of conveying the sheet onto the second conveying unit. In particular, the sheet delivered closest to the side of the second conveying unit is firstly conveyed, and the sheet delivered next closest to the second conveying unit is conveyed thereafter. Thus, when it is desired to convey the sheet not located closest to second conveying unit first, it is required to change the location of the second conveying unit with respect to the first conveying unit, or to undertake some other process such as excluding the sheet not desired to be convey first from the conveying path. Further, it is difficult to arrange a diverting device and the like to exclude the sheet on one side from the conveying path. Accordingly, there is a problem that the freedom in design is limited and, thus, it is difficult to modify the device to adapt to the needs of the user.
An object of the invention is to provide a sheet conveying device which permits changes in the sheet conveying order as desired, and which enables an increase in the freedom in design in the conveying process.